Spline Regression Models shows how to use dummy variables to formulate and estimate spline regression models both in situations where the number and location of the spline knots are known in advance, and where estimation is required.

Spline Regression Models shows the nuts-and-bolts of using dummy variables to formulate and estimate various spline regression models. For some researchers this will involve situations where the number and location of the spline knots are known in advance, while others will need to determine the number and location of spline knots as part of the estimation process. Through the use of a number of straightforward examples, the authors will show readers how to work with both types of spline knot situations as well as offering practical, down-to-earth information on estimating splines.

This book introduces methods of robust optimization in multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) and Conic MARS in order to handle uncertainty and non-linearity. The proposed techniques are implemented and explained in two-model regulatory systems that can be found in the financial sector and in the contexts of banking, environmental protection, system biology and medicine. The book provides necessary background information on multi-model regulatory networks, optimization and regression. It presents the theory of and approaches to robust (conic) multivariate adaptive regression splines - R(C)MARS – and robust (conic) generalized partial linear models – R(C)GPLM – under polyhedral uncertainty. Further, it introduces spline regression models for multi-model regulatory networks and interprets (C)MARS results based on different datasets for the implementation. It explains robust optimization in these models in terms of both the theory and methodology. In this context it studies R(C)MARS results with different uncertainty scenarios for a numerical example. Lastly, the book demonstrates the implementation of the method in a number of applications from the financial, energy, and environmental sectors, and provides an outlook on future research.

Nonparametric function estimation with stochastic data, otherwise known as smoothing, has been studied by several generations of statisticians. Assisted by the ample computing power in today's servers, desktops, and laptops, smoothing methods have been finding their ways into everyday data analysis by practitioners. While scores of methods have proved successful for univariate smoothing, ones practical in multivariate settings number far less. Smoothing spline ANOVA models are a versatile family of smoothing methods derived through roughness penalties, that are suitable for both univariate and multivariate problems. In this book, the author presents a treatise on penalty smoothing under a unified framework. Methods are developed for (i) regression with Gaussian and non-Gaussian responses as well as with censored lifetime data; (ii) density and conditional density estimation under a variety of sampling schemes; and (iii) hazard rate estimation with censored life time data and covariates. The unifying themes are the general penalized likelihood method and the construction of multivariate models with built-in ANOVA decompositions. Extensive discussions are devoted to model construction, smoothing parameter selection, computation, and asymptotic convergence. Most of the computational and data analytical tools discussed in the book are implemented in R, an open-source platform for statistical computing and graphics. Suites of functions are embodied in the R package gss, and are illustrated throughout the book using simulated and real data examples. This monograph will be useful as a reference work for researchers in theoretical and applied statistics as well as for those in other related disciplines. It can also be used as a text for graduate level courses on the subject. Most of the materials are accessible to a second year graduate student with a good training in calculus and linear algebra and working knowledge in basic statistical inferences such as linear models and maximum likelihood estimates.

This book serves well as an introduction into the more theoretical aspects of the use of spline models. It develops a theory and practice for the estimation of functions from noisy data on functionals. The simplest example is the estimation of a smooth curve, given noisy observations on a finite number of its values. Convergence properties, data based smoothing parameter selection, confidence intervals, and numerical methods are established which are appropriate to a number of problems within this framework. Methods for including side conditions and other prior information in solving ill posed inverse problems are provided. Data which involves samples of random variables with Gaussian, Poisson, binomial, and other distributions are treated in a unified optimization context. Experimental design questions, i.e., which functionals should be observed, are studied in a general context. Extensions to distributed parameter system identification problems are made by considering implicitly defined functionals.

Statistics is the language of modern empirical social and behavioural science and the varieties of regression form the basis of this language. Statistical and computing advances have led to new and exciting regressions that have become the necessary tools for any researcher in these fields. In a way that is refreshingly engaging and readable, Wright and London describe the most useful of these techniques and provide step-by-step instructions, using the freeware R, to analyze datasets that can be located on the books′ webpage: www.sagepub.co.uk/wrightandlondon. Techniques covered in this book include multilevel modeling, ANOVA and ANCOVA, path analysis, mediation and moderation, logistic regression (generalized linear models), generalized additive models, and robust methods. These are all tested out using a range of real research examples conducted by the authors in every chapter. Given the wide coverage of techniques, this book will be essential reading for any advanced undergraduate and graduate student (particularly in psychology) and for more experienced researchers wanting to learn how to apply some of the more recent statistical techniques to their datasets. The Authors are donating all royalties from the book to the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders.